Thallassemia patients needs regularly blood with a interval
of 15 days. Think the pain of the family who needs 24 units
of blood in a year for the whole life of their child.

Your blood helps more than one life at a time.
Accidents, premature babies, major surgeries require Whole
blood, where your blood after testing is used directly.
Trauma, Anemia, Thallassemic requires only RBC, which is
separated from your blood. The procedure of splitting blood
components is called Cytapheresis. Similarly Platelets are
used for Cancer patients undergoing Chemotherapy, Dengue
fever, etc. Fresh frozen plasma is used for patients having
massive Transfusions, Plasma is used for Burns and
Cryoprecipitate is used for Hemophilia.

When is blood needed?
Blood is needed at regular intervals and at all times as it
has only a finite time to store.
Shelf life of Whole blood is 45 days, Packed Red blood cells
42 days, Fresh Frozen Plasma and Cryoprecipitate for a year
and platelets for 5 days.

Who can donate blood?
Anyone above 18 years weighing more than 45 kgs (110 lbs)
can donate blood. At the time of donation, you should not be
suffering from fever or had consumed alcohol 48 hours
before or have smoked during that day.